Allison's Birth Story

Let me begin by saying that this pregnancy has been way different than my last! My last pregnancy I now realize just how spoiled I was! I remember the days I would sleep until 1 in the afternoon and go to bed at 8:00pm that night! ....I think I miss that part the most. Lol Good thing it's all for an amazing cause!

(Note to self - to compare to future or previous pregnancies)
Things that have happened with this pregnancy that didn't with my last:
- 1st Trimester: Lead teacher of a Montessori toddler program including a 40 minute drive one way with my then barely 2 year old and usual morning sickness.
- Teaching 18 month - 3 year old children how to be toilet trained.....alot of accidents dealt with.
- 2nd Trimester: Looking for a house all summer long that happened to be in an area an hour away....no luck
- Found a place to rent (HUGE BLESSING)
- Moved......Note to self: Never move while pregnant if you can help it. Can't think straight, can't move stuff, and finally get to the point you just don't care anymore.
- 3rd Trimester: Get house organized so you can actually fit a baby in there lol ---ya good luck finding everything you didn't care about anymore but suddenly need again.
- Finding a new hospital and doctor to deliver.
- Baby was breech.
- Toilet training my 2 1/2 year old.
- Extremely intense heartburn.

Honestly? After all the stress from the previous 9 months I was hoping something was not dreadfully wrong with my baby. Turned out that other than being breech at 34 weeks and then changing positions in one week, everything for the baby was great! For me? I'm not one of those lucky ladies who have pregnancy easy, however looking at this ultrasound picture often, really made me feel better :) "You can do it mom!"

For the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy I was dilated to almost a 3 and 10% effaced. Having not had a ultrasound to determine the due date of this baby like we did with our last one we honestly felt like the guess they made was very off according to my last period. So, very easily we could have this baby early was our feeling.

Tuesday, November 13th we found out that I was an easy 3 and 80% effaced. Our due date according to the Nurse Practitioner was November 17th, that following Sunday. And according to us, we were already due. I decided to go to Costco and literally push the cart around the outer edge of the store 3 times as well as doing my usual pretend window shopping in the aisles....oh ya with 3 cases of water in it. Lol! Let's just say that I didn't realize just how much stuff is in Costco! Man that store is huge!

(Yes I feel like I was that guy right there....just picture a very tall girl with her belly swingin around! lol)

You know how supposedly you get a energetic boost the day you go into labor?? Ya, I didn't get that... I did get that a couple days earlier though lol Ya know...with the Costco thing....However, Wednesday, November 13th I was not well at all. James and I had for our millionth time another movie day in the front room. At one point I think I ventured outside with him but honestly? My back hurt so bad I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep....very long day.

When Justin got home I thought, "Yay!!! Freedom! I can sleep!" ...no chance. Lucky us James wouldn't go to sleep so somehow or another we both ended up in bed at 11:00pm. Justin of course with his awesome sleeping powers was out instantly! Me on the other hand was going back and forth to the bathroom trying to figure out how to get my now back spasms to stop.

I remember thinking very clearly (if you really ever do think clearly when pregnant) I'm too tired to have this baby tonight I'm going to bed and she can come tomorrow....haha.....tomorrow....

For the entire last trimester I had been experiencing braxton hicks and occasional contractions that were never timely. Even though I was trying to time them I felt like it was the same thing I had been feeling for the last month. I came to the conclusion finally that I was either deathly sick or in labor, either way I needed to go to the hospital, lol

(This was going through my head)

Being exhausted I made it to the bed and said,
 "Justin, call your mom....we need to go in"
....a moan of some kind....
I said, "Justin, Call your mom."
....another moan....
 "Kinda in labor here. Call your mom."
  "...hmmm..."
 "Justin! Call your mom or I'm going to scream!"
 Oh, now that got him up and going, his reply? something like, "Man you're grouchy..." Even though I was in pain and kinda panicking a bit I was really trying to keep from laughing my head off, I mean, what the heck??

Don't worry, that's really just the beginning of the night. Our neighbor came over and sat with James until Justin's mom got there, meanwhile we're finding out at the hospital that I was dilated to a 5. The last time I had a baby I came in at a 5 and had 4 hours left of labor and delivery after that. It's 12:30 this time....I'm exhausted. How is this going to pan out? I don't have energy for this! 4 hours later I find out I'm at a 9 which is fabulous until I lost my cookies....ya that pretty much stopped my contractions. Wait, what?? I'm at a 9 and my contractions stopped?? 3 hours later, trying various things and thinking they were at any minute going to come back I thought, if they aren't coming back and I'm not progressing maybe I should get an epidural seeing that I am literally trying to stay awake and have no energy to push after all night long.

(Bountiful Hospital)

While waiting for the pitocin to kick in the nurse let me know that the epidural guy would be in in 20 minutes. Somewhere in the middle of all that my midwife was having a hard time finding the heartbeat for a minute or so.....I didn't know that was happening because I was...well, not me to say the truth. Justin on the other hand looked at me and said, "Alicia, if you don't push this baby out you're going to have to have a C-Section!" He claims he said it sternly, I claim I was being yelled at, either way he's never spoken to me like that. However it must have worked because I was suddenly scared enough that the baby came into the world Thursday, November 14th, 2013 at 7:06am. Before the 20 minutes were even up.

Now, Motherhood was not natural for me to walk into like it seems it is for most moms. You hear stories of moms crying when they first see their child.  Or nursing like they were pros their entire lives. They have a bond that was created during those 9 months or something. With my first child it seems heartless to say but I felt nothing. I didn't understand that I gave birth to a living being. To an actual person. I knew I was supposed to have my son and that I was to be his mother but I didn't feel that motherly role take on. I have had very low self confidence all my life, as well as insecurity, how was I to share me? imperfect me, with another being?

It was during the next 6 months of his existence that I was falling in love with him and learning to take on that role of a mother. Somehow I felt like me was beginning to become me...if that makes sense. Another 6 months after that I realized that more than anything I wanted another child to give him a friend. A person can have many friends but there is nothing like a sibling that can heal that empty part of you. My bond with my son happened alright, but after the birth experience happened. It's like my 1st prepared me for my next without me knowing it.

That being said, unlike my first when they laid my baby girl on my tummy I didn't look at her in disgust. I touched her head as they rubbed her down and spoke gently to her.... "Oh baby...oh honey....it's me, it's Mommy....oh honey....sweet baby....sweet Allison..." After my midwife let Justin cut the cord which was also different this round. They asked me if I'd like her to be chest to chest with me. With my 1st I wouldn't have wanted that even if it was an option....I found myself saying yes. I desired it. How did I change?

Eventually they took her, weighed and measured and cleaned a bit more right there in the room. While I was being taken care of, having lost alot of blood this round. Justin held her and the moment he picked her up her eyes opened right up to his for the first time. How beautiful a moment was that? it seemed unreal.

(This was that moment)

After all was said and done they left us alone with our baby girl. Justin went out of the room for something and somehow it was just Allison and me alone for the first time not even an hour after her entrance into the world. Being alone with this nursing champion, I remember talking to her....holding her close telling her what a great Dad, brother, grandparents, cousins, and family she has. She was looking at me....I was looking at her....I felt like she was saying, "and a great mother too" ....as every mother knows you somehow feel at some point or another while looking at your baby that heaven is looking at you. That this child sees everything there is to see in you and yet accepts you for all of it. I remember that feeling with my first child. Maybe that was what changed me. That feeling that you're not perfect but that that child would take you just the way you are because they indeed love you, for you. It was in that moment that I cried. "A great Mother too...."

Allison Mae Karoly, 9lb 13oz, 22 inches

Alli - Mae & Me :)

Because of when she was born, Justin and I were of course exhausted and we let the nurses take her to the nursery. I fell asleep for 2 hours. At some point Justin was gone....this felt familiar...I already knew where he was....big smiles...

Later after they bathed her she was all dolled up, Lol

We have a bigger family now....can life be any more perfect?

First time big brother holding his new sibling :)

Going Home - Welcome to the Family Allison :)

The whole night I had this song stuck in my head....love it, I couldn't have done this without my husband and midwife and one heck of an awesome nurse all cheering me on and coaching me.

 "Hey Pretty Girl"

To compare deliveries, here's my sons birth story from forever ago :)

http://jakaroly.blogspot.com/2011/03/baby-pictures.html